Will Mack use teleprompters again at state of the city speech?

Mayor Tony F. Mack has gotten a little help from his friend — the teleprompter — at his previous state of the city addresses.

He passed the roughly $1,000 bill to taxpayers twice, once when he rented the device in 2011 and again in 2012, according to financial documents obtained by The Trentonian.

Mack is the first mayor to use teleprompters at the annual event, according to a former city official.

“As long as I was on council for 24 years, I never saw a mayor use the teleprompters,” former councilman John Cipriano said, adding the speeches were read from notes. “I’ve never heard of that. It’s ludicrous.”

Both times, the mayor’s office rented the public speaking services from Allentown, N.J.-based Executive Prompting, Inc. Several calls to the company were not returned.

In 2011, the city paid $935 for the teleprompting services, which included four hours of overtime at $65/hour. Last year, the bill increased to $1032.50 because the overtime grew to five and a half hours.

The mayor’s office did not respond for comment about why the mayor uses teleprompters and if it is a good use of city funds. It also remains a mystery if Mack will be aided by the machine again this year when he takes the podium 6:30 Monday night at city hall for the annual address.

Councilman George Muschal said while Mack is allowed to use the money, it could be better spent.

“I always speak from my heart and I’m sure he can talk too,” the councilman said. “He should pay for the teleprompters out of his own pocket and use the money for something more important.”

Councilwoman Kathy McBride declined comment. None of the other council members returned a call for comment.

Cipriano, who saw state of the city addresses by former mayors Douglas H. Palmer, Arthur John Holland and Carmen J. Armenti, echoed Muschal’s sentiments.

“There’s a hell of a lot more better ways to spend money than on a teleprompters to give a message to the public,” he said. “It’s a total waste of money.”